Chapter 37: The Shadow over Mahavid
Thankfully we didn't need to do a lot of exploration, deduction or application of search filters to figure out where to find Garneau. As soon as we entered the Aysur system, a single scan was enough to locate two points of interest. One was the wreckage of a fuel depot that yielded about 150 units of, well, fuel.
The other was an asteroid called Mahavid. I told the squad to meet up in the shuttle bay. We were on our way as soon as we'd suited up and grabbed our gear.
"We're about five minutes out to the asteroid, Commander," Cortez said as the shuttle took off.
"What do we know about this asteroid?" I asked. "And why does it have its own name, anyway?"
"It's located in the Nahata Belt," Miranda called out. "Technically it's an asteroid belt, but it shouldn't be considering how sparse it is. Mahavid is composed primarily of kamacite—an alloy of iron and nickel often found in asteroids. However, its chief attraction is that the kamacite deposits have an unusually high concentration of tungsten."
"High enough for T-GES Mineral Works to set up a mining facility there," Liara added. "They own the rights to mine the ore, refine it and sell the products to the colonists of Arvuna. It's a moon orbiting the planet Dranen."
"Judging by the sensor readings, it's a small operation," Cortez added. "Could be a good place for Leviathan to hide. Or Garneau."
I left Cortez and returned to the cargo hold. "We've all read EDI's notes on Bryson's lab," I said. "Any questions?"
"Is there a clearer idea of what this 'Leviathan' was?" Garrus asked.
"Not really," I shook my head. "We only know it killed a Reaper."
"But Garneau's our target here, right?" James asked. "I mean, he was Bryson's research partner."
"Right. If we find Garneau, we find Leviathan."
"We hope," Kaidan said.
"It's only a lead," I conceded. "But it's our best one. Bryson was right: anything powerful enough to kill a Reaper needs to be investigated. Especially now. I just hope Garneau has the answers we need."
That's when something started beeping in the cockpit. "Cortez?"
The tingling sensation at the back of my neck gave me a good guess before I got the report: "I'm reading Reaper signatures in the asteroid field."
"Bryson said they were shadowing his field teams," I sighed. "If they're after Leviathan too, Reapers are a good sign."
Cortez gave me a strange look. "That's not something you hear every day," he muttered.
He had a point, I had to admit. "Take us in."
We disembarked as soon as the shuttle touched down. "Don't go anywhere, Cortez. We'll grab this guy and be right out. Keep me updated on the Reaper situation."
"Yes, Commander."
You could tell this was a small industrial operation just by looking around. Nothing but metal as far as the eye could see. Metal rails. Metal girders and support beams. Every building built with metal panels—nice and modular so they could be moved, repositioned or sealed off as needed. Lots of corrugated metal too. The only paint was a dull industrial yellow on certain parts of the floor. Pretty typical, really.
We got on an elevator and took it down a level. A yellow and black line led down a path to a nearby building with a staircase heading up. That's when we saw some bozos who weren't typical. "Scouting party," I identified. "Two Marauders, one Brute."
A deep sound echoed through the air. "And it sounds like they brought some friends," Garrus frowned.
"Team One on the Brute; Two and Three on the Marauders," I ordered. "Weapons free."
EDI and Liara hit the Brute with plasma and biotics at the same time that Miranda and James launched their EMP/concussive round combo, which was also around the time that Garrus and Javik did their EMP/biotic jazz. The explosions were still ringing out when I launched a fireball. Kaidan and Tali were quick to zap their respective Marauders. And then the bullets started flying.
While the Marauders were busy falling to the ground and twitching, I was busy lining up a shot on the Brute with my sniper rifle. And then another. One more shot was needed to put that bad boy down for good.
That's when another Brute lumbered into view. Naturally. As it began stomping down the stairs, I lifted my sniper rifle. Managed to shoot him twice before EDI and Liara tag-teamed him. I fired another shot, sent some plasma flying and reloaded. Miranda dealt the final biotic blow.
After that, you'd think the husk that charged down the stairs would be a piece of cake. And it was. Along with the husk behind it. And the husk after that. And the husk after that. They just kept coming. A steady, relentless, inexorable wave of husks. Of the dead. Bodies glowing. Eyes glowing. Mouths wide open in a ceaseless, unending moan. Bereft of nothing but to rend and tear according to their master's will. They kept coming and coming, forcing us back step by step despite our best efforts. Husks that we had merely wounded rose to their feet again, like the undead they seemed to be. If we didn't find some way to turn the tide, we'd be overrun.
"Liara, drop a singularity here. Tali, deploy Chatika here." I used my HUD to indicate the desired locations. As they were complying, I pulled out a grenade and let it fly.
The grenade bounced once, twice, then exploded—turning several ravening husks into a pile of lifeless bodies. To the left of the explosion, a trio of husks were caught up in Liara's singularity. To the right, a combat drone materialized into view and began furiously zapping away. The momentum of the husks suddenly slowed in the midst of all these obstacles. It might not seem like much, but it was enough to give us the upper hand. Before our eyes, the relentless flood of husks became a mere trickle. Slowly but surely we gained the upper hand, until the last husk dropped at our feet.
We all needed a moment to slump over in relief, panting and wheezing for air. Once we'd recovered, I pointed to the staircase. "All right. Let's get Garneau before the serious troops arrive."
"The people in this facility will be scared," Liara frowned.
"We do not have time to coddle them," Javik said curtly as we ran up the stairs two at a time. "We have a mission to complete."
Being the first to reach the top, I had time to swipe a med-kit while the rest of the squad caught up. There wasn't anything else except a lot of crates and a door. Locked, of course. So I bypassed it and got us in. We went down a short corridor and passed several more crates before reaching another door. "Welcome to T-GES Mineral Works," an automated voice recording said cheerfully. "All guests need to sign in at Reception."
The first thing we saw—aside from all the vid-screens with advertisements—was a pair of humans casually strolling along. Another human walked up a short flight of stairs, a mild smile on his face. The way they were walking about, it looked like just a typical day at the office. Or the mine, given the standardized style of jumpsuit they were wearing. Why the heck were they so calm?
I wasn't the only one who'd noticed. "They're taking it pretty well, don't you think?" Garrus said doubtfully.
"Yeah. Too well," I replied.
I walked to the railing and looked down. There were a trio of human miners chatting. Two of them—one man, one woman—were busy talking to a guy sitting down on a bench. The men stopped talking and stared at me. I stared back. The woman slowly craned her neck around and stared at me. None of them said a single word. They just... stared. And that tingling sensation began to dance on the back of my neck again.
Okay. Don't freak out, Shepard. (1) Let's just talk to the hopefully-less-scary folks at Reception, I decided.
Reception was surrounded by big glass windows. Thankfully there was a speaker set in the glass so I didn't have to raise my voice and make a scene. "I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance," I said to the two men inside. "You just had Reaper troops attacking your front door."
They stared at me. Just like those miners.
The man sitting in front of a computer finally spoke. "Are they still there?" he asked, in a calm voice. Calm and monotone like a robot. The old ones, without cheerful speech algorithms. Kinda like Hadley, come to think of it.
"I've taken care of them for now," I reassured them.
The other man, who was leaning on the table, blinked. "I see," he said, his voice also calm and monotonous. "That will be all."
"'That will be all'?" I mouthed.
The two men stared intently at the screen. "Hello?" I tried.
Nothing.
Liara reached over and touched a big green button marked 'Assistance.'
"Yes, welcome to T-GES Mineral Works," the man sitting down said dully, his hands typing away at the keyboard. "How can we help you?"
"Yes," the man standing up chimed in. "For the tour, please sign in."
Okay… it was like they were blindly following a script, regardless of how irrelevant or inappropriate it was. "You don't seem worried about those Reapers. You know something I don't?"
The man standing up blinked. "T-GES Mineral Works is a small to mid-level supplier of tungsten to the galaxy."
If he was trying to moonlight as a tour guide, he probably shouldn't quit his day job. "That's not what I meant," I said.
"Are you familiar with the application of tungsten?"
"I'm looking for a researcher named Dr. Garneau," I tried again. "He would've arrived within the last couple weeks. If he's still here, I need to speak to him."
The man sitting down was still typing. "We have no Dr. Garneau," he droned. He was still speaking when his colleague droned "Do you need to see a doctor?"
"How about I just go in and look around?" I suggested.
"No," the standing man said immediately, if somewhat dully. "The access elevator is broken."
Well that was convenient. Looking behind me, I saw the elevator. Sparks spat out fitfully. "Broken," I said slowly. "Right."
"And now… we're done," the sitting man said. "Step away."
"Step away," the standing man chimed in. "You don't belong here."
They stared at me quietly. No, more than quietly. Their expressions were just as wooden as ever, but their eyes… their eyes were no longer empty. No, now there was an intensity. A burning, fixed intensity that was just as alarming as the blank emptiness that I previously saw there. So much for not freaking out.
Garrus leaned over. "Bad vibe to these guys," he whispered. "I don't think we wanna push it."
Yeah, I think I got that too. Call me crazy, but I'd take a relentless tide of husks over these guys any time. I took a step back, still feeling the tingling on the back of my neck, and smiled politely. "Stepping away now," I said loudly. Then, out of the corner of my mouth, I whispered "Let's look around. Carefully."
My first stop was the trio I saw when I walked in. "He was living in the ducts," the woman said.
"Where is he now?" one of the men whispered.
"Safe. Locked up. He can't hurt us now."
"Excuse me," I piped up. "Is everything all right?"
They clammed up immediately. "You don't belong here," was all the woman said.
"Nice talking to you."
As I walked away, I scooped up a datapad. No credits. Just a curt e-mail stating that some doctor had his appeal denied, his resources cut off and got reassigned to some other doctor. Not much help there. Maybe this computer would be more helpful.
"Welcome to T-GES Mineral Works, proud providers of tungsten since 2162. Interested in working with us? Tour our facility to see our workforce in action and discover if T-GES Mineral Works is right for you."
Zero for three. This was working out really well. Where should I go next?
Sidestepping a lot of datapads and leaflets strewn on the ground, I wandered into the Reception office. Part of me wondered whether the men working there would notice my presence, given how drone-like they were behaving.
"You can't be in here."
There was my answer. "I was looking for the men's room," I replied.
"I will call security."
"So… wrong place?"
The men had nothing to say to that. Witty repartee clearly wasn't their forte.
"Turn back," one of them intoned as I picked up the datapad. "Return to your ship, Commander."
Trusting that the squad would watch my back, I ignored the drones and read the datapad: 'The tests reportedly pushed the subject past his emotional breaking point,' it read. 'The subject is currently in a catatonic state and is being treated in-hospital. All further tests planned for this subject have been canceled. Moving forward, a new screening process will be put in place to prevent similar delays.'
That tingling feeling was still there. No, wait, make that a chill running up and down my spine. "Anything?" Miranda asked when I stepped out.
"Other than the fact that this place is giving me the creeps? Nope."
"You and me both, Commander," James shivered.
Spotting another pair of miners nearby, I moseyed over to eavesdrop on their conversation. "What have you heard?" the man was asking. "Did he die?"
"Yes," the woman replied, her voice devoid of any emotion or feeling. "It was an accident, but he died."
"I don't know what to think about that."
"I'm looking for a Dr. Garneau," I said loudly.
"I don't know what you mean," the woman replied.
"Have you seen him?"
"We know nothing," the man said.
"Aren't you worried about the Reapers?"
"Go away."
"You don't belong here."
Wow. I kept getting shot down. Good thing I had a thick skin, otherwise my feelings might be hurt. (2)
"This is unnerving," Liara whispered.
"We need to fix that elevator," Garrus said firmly. "The answers might be down there."
Wordlessly, Kaidan opened the control panel for the elevator. "Malfunction detected," the VI chirped, its ersatz voice having more life than any of the people I'd talked to so far. "Elevator offline."
"Tali, think you can work your magic on this thing?" I asked.
"I believe so," she nodded. "Just watch my back."
It took less than a minute for Tali to add a suite of repair protocols to Chikitta's OS and get it/her/whatever to fix the elevator, but it felt like hours. The whole time we were watching the other miners. Waiting for them to suddenly flip out and go berserk on us. Or worse, methodically tear us apart limb by limb with blank, wooden looks on their faces. I wasn't sure which scenario was worse.
But none of that happened. Tali repaired the elevator. The first thing I did was access the elevator security logs for the last seven days. There were four names. Randal, Jan. Bragg, Stephen. Triffon, Fiona.
And Garneau, Alex.
Wordlessly, we entered the elevator. Tali waited until the doors closed before bringing up what we'd uncovered: "The security log for the elevator said Garneau was here in the last week. Why would they lie about that?"
"No idea," I shrugged. "Let's hope we don't have to look too far."
The elevator took us up to the next floor. It opened in the middle of a long corridor with a door immediately opposite us. On a whim, I turned left, passed a few crates and picked up a datapad sitting on a set of chairs. It contained two files. The first read 'After comparing the stomach contents of varren from eight different regions, we must re-evaluate our current understanding of their feeding practices.'
Needless to say, I found the second file, and its link to an account containing 1250 credits, much more useful.
Then I turned around and went to the other end of the corridor. There was another computer console there with another pre-recorded vid-tour: "Welcome to the mineral lab. Our researchers are always hard at work. Tungsten is remarkably versatile. We're endlessly finding exciting ways to improve and expand our operations. Our researchers will happily answer all your questions."
Not from what I had seen so far. Taking a deep breath, I hit the door controls and entered the mineral lab.
As the doors opened, I saw partitions conveniently slide down over the windows of one of the rooms. What was more alarming was the conversation I overheard.
"The turian pain threshold before psychosis is too high."
"What if the pain stimuli is applied more quickly?"
"Interesting. We should look into that."
"I really don't like this place, Shepard," Garrus growled.
"Don't blame you, buddy," I said. "Come on."
I went around a corner and almost bumped into a researcher. "Pardon me," I apologized.
"Turn back. You shouldn't be here."
Well that was just rude. Ignoring him, I entered what was definitely a lab. Bookshelves filled with reference material. A table cluttered with rock samples. Desks cluttered with microscopes and other equipment, along with a datapad opened to the following e-mail:
TO WHOMEVER IS MOVING MY STUFF:
Some of the data I've been compiling on how historical weather events affect hanar government have gone missing.
If you moved it, please return it! It is the culmination of years of research. If you need me to help you find space for your project, just ask. I'd be happy to help.
Tanis
While I was reading that, Liara had wandered over to one of the other tables. She had a perplexed look on her face when she returned. "I've got missing data on weather patterns and hanar government," I said. "What about you?"
"Evolutionary implications of human biotics. And this."
She handed over another datapad. "It was sitting by one of those tables."
I looked at all the flower pots sitting there, each boasting some pink-flowered plant, before reading the datapad:
NOTE TO STAFF: This new crossbreed appears harmless and would be inconspicuous in an office environment. However, it is exceedingly dangerous. Use extreme caution when working with all third-generation plants.
I showed this to the others. Miranda frowned. "Is it just me, or are these people doing everything but mining?"
She had a point. Let's review: so far we'd stumbled across eating habits of varren, measurement of turian pain threshold, investigations between meteorological patterns and hanar government, evolutionary implications of human biotics and plant crossbreeding. Nothing to do with tungsten or kamacite or mining. And on top of that, the entire staff was acting like mindless automatons, entirely unconcerned with the Reaper forces we dealt with earlier, the guy in a catatonic state, the guy being tortured or the guy who was dead.
My next stop was the crew quarters. Unfortunately, it was locked. So I tried to bypass it.
"This is a restricted area."
Well, that didn't work.
"Personnel ID number is required."
"Uh… I haven't been given one yet."
"Access denied."
Nuts. Spotting an asari, I went to ask her for help. Actually, I was curious to see what she was finding so damn interesting. The spines of various textbooks, apparently. "Hi there? Have you seen Dr. Garneau?"
"You shouldn't be here."
"I get that a lot."
So far, no one was willing to indulge my insatiable curiosity. And given how badly they were wigging me out, maybe that was a good thing. I'm not really down for chatting it up with the scary people. So rather than continue any one-sided conversation, I left the room. One of the researchers I'd bumped into earlier was talking to a turian. "Even estimating sixty days for complete global starvation—that's the merciful route," the latter said.
"Absolutely. That's the data to use."
Just like that. As if chatting about global starvation was just another day at the office.
Up ahead, there was another room at the other end of the hall. I tried to casually walk over there. Unfortunately, someone beat me to it and pointedly closed the door. So I turned my attention to a wall map. 'T-GES Mineral Works: Mineral Extraction Wing,' it read.
Reaching out, I activated the computer console just below the map. "This is a restricted security terminal. A level five passcode is required for access."
"Would another passcode suffice?"
"Access denied."
"Guess not."
With that, I went to the room that had just been locked. It took a bit of effort, but I managed to bypass the lock. Before I went in, though, I hovered outside and listened.
"No. Listen to me. Colonies disappear all the time."
"If someone wanted to get away with it, it's just a matter of when and where."
"Look at the map. Closer. Tell me what calls to you."
'Calls to you?' What the hell? I couldn't help but walk in and take a peek. There were three humans, one of whom was standing with a turian next to a holo-projector. Unfortunately, before I could get a good look at what was being displayed, one of the researchers spotted me. With a wave of his omni-tool, he turned off the image. "Turn back," he intoned. "You don't belong here."
I looked at the blank faces of all four techs and the error symbol that was now hovering over the holo-projector. "Yeah," I said quietly. "I'm getting that feeling."
Stepping around them, I picked up yet another datapad. Apparently an increase in electrical storm activity had disrupted communications with some 'beta site research team.' Putting it back down, I bypassed another lock and entered a small room filled with crates. Finally: something that made sense!
Miranda managed to stifle a groan as I began systematically searching through every crate. The only thing I found was a high-velocity barrel mod for a submachine gun. Well, that and a datapad.
"Attention," the datapad's computer said as I turned it on. "Comm system is offline. This message was not sent.
"Bryson, it's Garneau. I've had to go into hiding, and I need you to come get me. I found another one of those artifacts here. They're more important than we realized. It's in the mines—here's the NavPoint. That's where I'll be. If something happens… I'm attaching a passcode that I hacked together. It'll open any security terminal. Bryson… something is very wrong here. Please hurry. Garneau out."
So we had Garneau's location and we had the passcode. It had taken a bit of digging, but we were finally getting somewhere.
I left the room and saw the four techs again. They were still standing in the exact same spot, only now they were all facing me. Staring at me with the same, empty, unnervingly intense gaze. I slowly walked past them, giving them a wide berth, and headed to another computer I'd spotted earlier. Maybe it would yield some more data.
"Smart minds, smart business: T-GES Mineral Works has an eye on the future. Cutting edge research drives us forward. Primary research interests include improving extraction practices and enhancing product quality. Our tour will continue outside the med bay."
Well, two out of three ain't bad.
My next stop was a part of the facility designated 'Section 4.' I went down a corridor and passed a pair of people talking about disappearing colonies. It was the exact same conversation I'd heard a minute ago. Sure enough, they were talking about the certainty of people disappearing and what part of the map called to you. They didn't tell me I shouldn't be here, though. That part was left for another asari researcher.
Javik kept his hands tucked firmly under his arms. "I do not wish to touch anything here, Commander," he said in response. "The impressions I would pick up would undoubtedly be… disturbing."
"Good call, Buggy," James agreed.
I found another computer console opposite the medical bay. Just for a bit of levity, I thought I'd continue the video tour. "T-GES Mineral Works is focused on—" it began.
Then the vid stopped. The image switched to a vid-cam picture of me and the squad staring at the computer. I raised a hand and waved. The computer screen switched to an error message. That was just rude, I thought. And scary. I mean, someone—or something—was clearly monitoring us. Watching us. And who knew what thoughts were running through its head.
Well, now that the tour was over, I went to the medical bay.
"This is a restricted area. An active patient file number is required."
You can probably guess the response when I told the computer I didn't have one. So I entered a small office that was right next door. Ignoring the turian who told me to turn back, I scooped up a datapad and thumbed it on.
T-GES Personnel Review
Brown, Jeremie—Personnel ID# 231-95
Sector E Maintenance
Since applying recent feedback, your work has shown a vast improvement. Your work with the corrupted skin samples we acquired was impressive. You are being given a promotion and a raise in security access level. Thank you for your hard work.
This review is confidential. Employees are encouraged not to leave reviews in view of others.
There was a certain irony to all of this. And, yes, it was also suspiciously convenient. Mind you, given how everyone around here was behaving, maybe it was understandable. All I knew was I had a possible lead and I had to check it out.
So back to the crew quarters I went. "This is a restricted area. Personnel ID number is required."
"ID 231-95," I recited.
"Access granted."
Crew quarters turned out to be a misnomer, considering how there was nothing there but more bookshelves, a couple tables and several rows of chairs and a lot of lockers. Aside from another weapons mod, the interesting thing came from two datapads. The first contained a report:
The quality of the ore samples from Sector 4 are tapering off. As of 01/15/2175, that area will begin decommissioning procedures.
Head of Mining Operations,
Del Closmire
The other datapad had an e-mail:
December 23, 2178
Andrea,
I miss you. Why won't you return my e-mails? Your mother is very ill and needs to see you.
I love you. Come home soon,
Dad
Hmm. So this place should've been shut down years ago. Instead, they kept going, switching from mining to bizarre experiments. Driven not by economic pricing but by some bizarre, possibly inhuman will. Cut off from the rest of the galaxy, who was unaware of the strange and disturbing events transpiring here.
Putting the datapads back where I found them, I went back to the security terminal. "Let's see what Garneau's terminal hack gets us," I said to myself as I punched it in.
"Access granted."
There was a lot of stuff to pore through. "Liara? Wanna take a crack at it?" (3)
She took my place at the console and began searching the files. "It appears Dr. Garneau did arrive here a week ago," she said, pulling up a somewhat grainy recording of a shuttle flying over the asteroid and touching down at the landing pad."
"Which matches the elevator logs," Kaidan nodded.
Liara pulled up several more logs. They were marred with poor resolution and choppy footage, but they were clear enough to show Garneau walking around, talking to people, shaking hands and generally being unmolested. "It appears he had full access at one point before going into hiding," she noted.
"What's that?" Miranda asked, pointing at a file marked with a red exclamation point. Liara opened the file. "Unknown male was involved in an altercation in the mines," I read.
"Garneau was heading to the mines," Garrus reminded me.
I checked the location of the incident. "That incident happened in the exact area where Garneau said he found the artifact, the one he marked with that NavPoint."
"Does the report indicate Garneau's status?" EDI asked.
"Looks like he was taken to the med bay," I replied.
"Which won't let us in without a file number," James remembered.
While we were chatting, Liara had been doing some more digging. She stepped away from the console with a satisfied smile on her face. "Then it is fortunate that I have the file number."
"Good job. Let's go get Garneau."
Once again we retraced our steps, this time stopping outside the med bay. Once again, the computer gave its standard warning. Liara gave the correct file number—7364, in case you were wondering—and the computer was kind enough to unlock the med bay for us.
The med bay was unusually large, I thought. Rather than a bunch of beds in the same room, this one consisted of several single-occupancy rooms. Most of them were empty. Except one, that is. Scooping up the contents of a med-kit, I tapped on the window. No response. Peering inside, I saw someone lying on the bed. "Is that Garneau?" I asked aloud. It was hard to tell with the lights off, you see.
"If it is, we came a long way for nothing," Javik grumbled. "The human is dead. Four eyes," he added when we looked at him.
"Great," I growled. "Just great."
"If you are looking for Garneau, you have found him."
Spinning around, we looked at the room on the other side of the corridor. The lights were off as well, but I could see someone swinging his legs around and sitting up. "I am Dr. Garneau."
"I'm Commander Shepard of the Alliance," I introduced myself. "Are you all right?"
"Yes. Only… I'm trapped in here."
"What's been going on in this place?"
"I was doing my research… until the incident."
"They attacked you."
He kept staring down at the floor, I noticed. Ashamed to let anyone see how badly he was hurt, I wondered. Without the lights on, it wasn't as if we could see anything. It was like the room was blanketed in shadows, hiding some horror within.
"It's true. But, aside from my confinement, I'm fine."
Okay. So he just didn't feel like looking me in the eye. "Bryson's research led me to you. Glad to hear you're okay."
"Bryson sent you?"
"In a sense." I paused, unsure of how to break the news, then plunged ahead. "I'm not sure how to tell you this, but he's dead. Killed by his assistant. I'm sorry."
"I see."
He was taking this awfully well. "I need you to tell me everything you've found on the Leviathan. Bryson seemed to think it killed a Reaper."
Garneau shook his head. "It's a myth. A dead end."
"But what about the artifact you mentioned in your message?" Garrus asked.
"I did? No."
"Yes, Doctor, you did," I insisted. "But now we've got Reaper forces attacking, so I need to break you out. We'll grab the artifact and go."
"Reapers. The darkness must not be breached."
The tingling began spreading up my neck and past the base of my skull. "'The darkness'?" I repeated.
Garneau suddenly lunged forward and slammed his fists on the glass. He glared at us, but there was nothing in his eyes. No sign of life. Nothing but emptiness. His voice dropped to a deep, inhuman rasp. "Why do you pursue me?"
"Let me guess," I said, trying to ignore the pounding in my chest, "the doctor is not available right now?"
"I do not believe we are actually speaking with Garneau," EDI told me helpfully.
"Joker needs to work with you on subtlety and context," I replied.
'Garneau' interrupted our chat by banging on the glass again. It quivered as a faint spider web of cracks appeared. "Leave the artifact. You will not take what is mine."
"Finders keepers," I returned. "Look, you killed a Reaper. I need your help."
The glass was still shaking. I swear I could hear it—or maybe that was the tingling that was now vibrating up my neck and all over my head. Miranda winced and raised a hand to her ears. Whoever or whatever was masquerading as Garneau continued to glare at us. "You bring only death."
The vibration escalated to an ear-splitting wail for a split second before the glass shattered. Half of us—including Miranda—collapsed to the floor, while the other half staggered back. Through blurry eyes, I glimpsed someone hop through the now-broken window and run around the corner. Ignoring the ringing in my ears, I followed him.
I turned the corner just in time to see Garneau standing on the other side of a door. He reached out to the door controls. Realizing what he was up to, I broke into a sprint.
But I was too late. The door slammed shut in my face. And Garneau was gone.
As I began bypassing the lock, the rest of Team One and Team Three joined me. "Miranda's still disoriented," Garrus reported. "Kaidan's got another migraine coming on, probably from that noise earlier. I told Team Two to stay behind and catch up once they've recovered. Garneau's through that door, I take it?"
"On his way to the transit station," I nodded, tilting my head to the sign overhead. "We gotta catch up with him. He's still our best lead to Leviathan. There we go!"
The door opened to reveal a short corridor leading to another door. Which was closed and locked. Before I was halfway down the corridor, the lights went out. Fortunately, emergency power kicked in. Just enough juice in the system to access the controls and begin bypassing them, not enough to restore the lights and take away the heebie jeebies. (4)
"Someone has cut the power," Liara said.
Gee, ya think?
The doors slid open. Through the illumination of the security terminal and the red emergency lighting, I saw a figure run into the mining sector. Garrus saw him too. "There he goes!" he cried.
"Leave this place!" 'Garneau' roared in the same deep voice.
"Wait!"
The door closed behind him. Naturally it locked itself. "We need to get to that artifact before he does," I said, stifling a curse.
"He said it was in the mines," Tali recalled.
"We'll need to find a different route. We'll never catch up to him, much less beat him, if we keep having to go through locked doors."
"Commander," Javik said. He pointed to a ladder built into the wall.
"That could work."
The ladder led to an access hatch. Pushing it open, I emerged back outside the facility. "Garneau's notes gave us a NavPoint for the artifact," I said once everyone else had joined me.
"According to my map, there's a service door at the next tram station," Liara reported. I turned to face the direction her map indicated…
…and saw several husks climbing up the walls. Every one with an unholy grimace on their ugly mugs. "Looks like we're not the only ones headed that way," I groaned.
"Of course not," Garrus sighed. "Wherever we are, always expect an eighty percent chance of Reapers."
I could've questioned that percentage by mentioning Cerberus or merc groups, but why tempt fate? "Team One; we'll go down this ladder and begin heading over to the tram station. Team Three; stay up here and provide fire support. Let's go!"
Between our vantage points, we had enough coverage to take out all the husks with a series of well-placed shots. Only needed to break out the plasma a couple times, mostly on the husks that decided to try crawling along the ceiling in an attempt to get the drop on us—literally. I quickly reloaded, ran down a catwalk and hopped over a barricade, scooping up another weapons mod along the way.
I skidded to a stop as a telltale moan reached my ears. Before I could raise my sniper rifle, Liara froze the husk with a stasis bubble. I took out the second husk that was right behind it, then turned my attention back to the first one. By the time it collapsed, the squad had caught up.
That's right: the squad. Including Team Two. "You all right?" I asked Miranda.
She nodded. "Then let's move out."
We ran around the corner and into a larger courtyard. Crates and structures riddled the area, breaking it up into something reminiscent of an obstacle course. On the far side, I spotted someone running. "There's Garneau!" James shouted.
I ducked as a bullet ricocheted off my shields. "And there's some more hostiles. Weapons free!"
EDI fried the Marauder's shields. Liara pummelled it with her biotics before my sniper rifle fired the final shot. Team Two was busy dispatching a Ravager before it could start hammering us with the Reaper equivalent of long-range mortar fire. Tali distracted another Marauder with Chikitta while Garrus and Javik deployed their EMPs and biotics. I used up the rest of my clip on a third Marauder, then finished it off with a fireball.
"Heads up!" Garrus warned. "Enemies on the upper balcony!"
"Team One and Three; take them out!" I ordered. "Team Two; watch our flank!"
Miranda, Kaidan and James began shooting at another Ravager and the Swarmers they accidentally released. (5) Confident that they'd take care of things down here—even with the Marauders that were moving to join the fun—the rest of us focused on the upper balcony. There were several more Marauders clustering up there, which made it really easy to direct our EMPs, biotics and plasma bursts. Anyone who somehow dodged the worst of it ran into Liara's stasis fields.
Satisfied that we had contained the hostiles up there, I checked on Team Two. They'd dealt a lot of damage to the Ravager, but it was still standing. As were the Marauders, though they had lost their shields and had taken significant injuries. I took them out before I saw what looked like a flaming rock arc overhead. Either someone had dragged a catapult out of mothballs or the Ravager was firing another shot.
I rolled out of the way, which was why I noticed something lying in the corner. Unfortunately, there were hostiles in the way. Using my HUD, I got Liara to grab a couple husks and snare them in a singularity. Meanwhile, EDI dropped an EMP on another Marauder. Ejecting my thermal clip and slamming a fresh one home, I dropped the Marauder with a single shot, turned on my heel, detonated the singularity with a fireball and bolted forward to scoop up the Blackstar that some Reaperfied monstrosity had dropped.
Unfortunately, there were enough Marauders running around to spot me and open fire. My shields were drained by the time I returned to the squad and ducked down. Given their position, there was no point in using the heavy weapon, so I dropped the Blackstar and switched back to my sniper rifle. While I was waiting for my shields to regenerate, I set another husk on fire and took out yet another Marauder.
Then another set of flaming rocks dropped from above and slammed into the courtyard. With a start, I realized that what I'd seen earlier wasn't a Ravager attack, but a Reaper drop pod. They were sending reinforcements.
The spine-numbing shriek that rang out told me what kind of reinforcements had arrived. "Banshees!" I warned.
Sure enough, we were up against a pair of Banshees. We waited for them to finish blinking/teleporting forward before firing. Thanks to some well-timed shots and a staggered barrage of biotics, one of the naked pregnant Reaperfied Ardat-Yakshi lost its barriers in short order. Switching to the other one, I signalled Team Three to concentrate on it before firing a shot of my own. Then I went back to the first one and fired again.
They didn't like that. One of them blinked forward and shrieked at us. Then the second one teleported even farther. Then the first one blinked again and joined its freakish sister. Before we knew it, the Banshees had flanked us. One barely without a scratch. One still in the fight. Both very, very deadly and ridiculously tough.
There was only one thing to do. I dropped down and grabbed the Blackstar. "Fire in the hole!" I yelled before squeezing the trigger.
The squad tried to get out of the way, but some of them couldn't really disengage in time. Besides, the blast radius of the Blackstar was fairly wide. The Banshees took the brunt of the blast—their obscenely distended bodies disintegrated in a flare of crimson light—but the blast wave sent Team Three and Liara flying into various crates and obstructions with sickening thuds.
I wanted to check on them, but we weren't in the clear yet. "EDI, check on the wounded and start triage." Dropping the now-expended Blackstar, I pulled out my sniper rifle. "Team Two; with me."
Miranda, Kaidan, James and I cleared the courtyard and made our way to the door. It was sporting several grooves and dents, probably from the husks clawing at it and the Ravager shooting at it. Apparently, they didn't know how to bypass electronic locks so they were settling for brute force. To be honest, it was a miracle that the door was still intact. After making sure I hadn't missed any hostiles, I assigned targets with my HUD.
One of the husks went down first, courtesy of a headshot from yours truly. The other husk was still turning around when Miranda and James tag-teamed the ugly sucker. That left Kaidan to get first crack at the Ravager with his biotics. I followed up with a bolt of plasma and a grenade, then fired a second shot for good measure.
"Shepard, open the door," Miranda said. "I'll look around."
Translation: she would scrounge for loot so I could focus on the priority at hand. She knew me so well.
Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. I had just started bypassing the door when the floor shook beneath us. Most of the exterior lighting went out. "What the hell?" James exclaimed.
"If I had to guess, I'd say the power supply's been cut," I replied. "Violently."
"You got that from the lights?" Kaidan asked.
I pointed at the door. "Can't bypass the locks if I can't access the controls, and I can't access the controls without any power."
Miranda picked that moment to join us. She wordlessly handed over the contents of another med-kit and a weapons mod as EDI and Team Three caught up. "We've hit another snag," I told them.
"We know," Garrus nodded. "Power's out. I noticed a couple trouble spots where the relays were cut."
"Tali," I began, "can you—"
"Shepard, I'm afraid I can't help you this time." She held out her omni-tool. Sparks spat out around the jagged pieces of metal that were sticking out of it. Courtesy of the explosion from the Blackstar. "I suppose I should consider myself lucky. Another centimetre and the shrapnel might have punctured my suit."
"There is a repair terminal," Javik suggested. "Over there. We can instruct the drone to fix the relays." He made a face. "I cannot believe I said that."
Neither could I. I mean, relying on a machine? Shocking! Though there was a huge difference between a repair drone and a fully aware AI. Still, now wasn't the time to quibble. I activated the repair terminal and was relieved when the console lit up. Guess it had its own generator. Smart thinking. It would be really stupid to patch it into the main power when that was the thing that might need, well, repairing. "Good news," I said after entering in a few commands. "We have ourselves a repair drone." It shimmered to life next to me, its white holographic shell shining out in the darkness.
"Bad news," Miranda frowned, "the drone is damaged. Judging by the fluctuations in its shields, I would say it's running on limited power."
The drone didn't seem to care about its potentially short lifespan, given that it blithely floated towards the first spot that needed fixing. "As long as it lasts long enough to fix the power, that's all that matters. We'll just have to make sure it doesn't get riddled with bullets. Teams One and Two; move ahead of the drone and clear the way of any hostiles. Two covers the left side, One gets the right. Team Three, your job is to make sure the drone survives long enough to do its job. (6)
"Let's do it, people. Weapons free."
"Repairs initiated," the drone cheerfully told me.
"In position," Team Three told me.
"Team Two standing by," Miranda told me.
"We are ready, Shepard," EDI added.
"Look out!" Liara cried out.
All that, in the span of six seconds. Story of my life.
Two Ravagers and two Marauders came out of the Reaper drop pod. I snapped off a quick shot at one of the Ravagers. EDI and Liara followed up with plasma and biotics. Figuring I might as well continue the pattern, I fired another shot before launching a fireball of my own.
Meanwhile, Team Two went for a biotics-concussive round-biotics combo. Seeing that things were well in hand, I had EDI drop an EMP on the Marauder and used up my last shot on a Swarmer before it got too close. Before I ducked down and reloaded, I tossed a grenade at 'my' Ravager.
Liara ignited the residual static from EDI's EMP while I finished off the Ravager with another shot. Turning on the spot, I bored a neat hole through the Marauder's head. A loud explosion rang out as Team Two finished off the second Ravager, so I almost didn't hear the drone announce "Repairs at fifty percent. Moving to next junction."
Kaidan had a clear line of sight, so he took the initiative to drain some of the second Marauder's shields. I sent a fireball over to demolish the shields. Then Kaidan fired a single shot. I thought that was odd until I realized he'd engaged his weapon's cryo mod, which meant the Marauder was now frozen. Rather than waste a bullet from my sniper rifle, I switched to my submachine gun and fired a three-burst. Shattered the sucker like glass.
"You heard the drone," I called out, switching back to my sniper rifle. "One repair done. One to go." I paused as another Reaper drop pod crashed like a flaming meteor. "We just have to hold on a little longer."
"Drone shields at eighty-nine percent," Tali called out.
"Understood," Garrus said. "Shepard, we'll back you up if needed."
As everyone got into position, I did a little recon. "Team One on the husks. Singularity, bullets to soften them up or catch any stragglers, then plasma. Team Two; the Ravager's all yours. Weapons free!"
Liara promptly yanked three into her singularity. Rather than detonating it immediately and risk having the husks scattered all over the place, she began taking pot-shots while EDI and I took out the other two husks. By the time EDI was ready to switch targets, the husks had taken enough damage that a single fireball was sufficient to finish them off.
Judging from the flashes I caught out of the corner of my eye and the staggered explosions, I guessed that the Ravager was being hammered by biotics and concussive rounds, which meant Garrus and Javik were having fun alongside Team Two. For a moment, I thought Tali was being left out. Then I saw her shooting. Tracing the shots back… "Team Three, switch to the Marauder. Team Two, finish off the Ravager."
That left EDI, Liara and I to take out the husks. Mostly me, but that only because my sniper rifle could do more damage and the husks weren't moving around too much. Once the coast was clear, we began escorting the drone to the next repair junction.
"Banshee!"
Enough escorting for now. "Stagger attacks; Team One through Three. I'll start." With that, I raised my sniper rifle and fired a single shot. Of course it didn't kill the Banshee, but it weakened its barriers. Predictably, it chose to blink several metres forward. By now, we knew to expect that kind of thing. That's why Liara and EDI chose to wait until it finished making its move before launching a biotic-EMP combo. I fired off another shot and waited for it to blink forward again.
Instead, it chose to fire a few biotic blasts back. Which meant it was a nice stationary target for me to drain the last of its barriers with a grenade. Team Two began their assault as the repair drone—finally—arrived at the junction and began its work. Raising my sniper rifle again, I fired another shot then reloaded. The Banshee finally decided to blink to another position, only to run into Javik's biotics and Garrus's concussive round. One more shot from yours truly finished it off.
"Status of the drone?" I asked.
"Shields at sixty-three percent," Tali replied.
"All repairs complete," the drone piped up. "Despawning."
"Door should be online now," I said. "Let's head back before the Reapers send any more troops!"
To my surprise, not only was the door controls online but the lockout was disabled. Guess the unexpected shutdown rebooted the systems. I wasn't complaining: Garneau still had way too much of a head start. We entered the airlock and waited for the pressurization cycle to complete. It seemed to take way too long, if you ask me. Finally, the inner doors opened and we finally entered the mines.
Portable lighting at staggered intervals revealed a standard pre-fab structure built over a shallow pit of rock—the last remnants of the ore deposit, no doubt. Husks were swarming all over the place, but none of them were paying any attention to us.
"The darkness can't be breached."
All the husks were fixated on Garneau, who was slowly backpedalling towards the centre of the room. Right in the centre, partially embedded in a rock face was a round sphere. An iridescent mosaic of colours writhed and shifted within its dark depths.
"The artifact," Liara guessed.
"Just like the one in Bryson's lab," I recognized. It was exactly the same, from the shape to the unsettling and hypnotic colours. "Keep the husks off Garneau."
The squad began picking them off one by one, but there were so many of them. It didn't help that Garneau was in the way. "Move!" I told him. "I've got a shot!"
He just looked at me. Then he raised his right hand. To my horror, I saw he was holding a detonator. "Turn back," he said, arming the detonator with a flick of his thumb.
"Garneau!" I yelled. "No!"
He pressed the trigger. There was a flash of light. And a roar that was deeper than whatever had possessed Garneau…
I picked myself up and looked around. Whatever explosives Garneau had used were concentrated in the centre, as the rest of the room was perfectly intact. Aside from a few glowing bits that were slowly dimming, the rock was scorched black. As for the artifact… I scrambled to where it was sitting. Unfortunately the sphere, along with the husks and Garneau, had been vaporized in the explosion. "Damn it!" I spat.
"Shepard," Garrus called out. "Over here. You need to see this."
I made my way over to Garrus. He and the rest of Team Three were examining a body that was hidden behind the rock. "What've you got?" I asked.
"That wasn't Garneau," he replied. "This is. Looks like he's been dead for a while."
That tracked with what I'd seen so far. "Okay," I nodded slowly. "So Leviathan can have people like Bryson and Garneau killed, he can take over an entire colony and can use them as puppets. And he's not above having someone else masquerade as Garneau in the hopes of throwing us off his trail. Anything else useful?"
"This." Garrus held up a datapad. "Looks like some encrypted data and a personal log. Eight missed calls from a Dr. Ann Bryson."
"'Ann Bryson.' You're sure."
"Yeah. Relative?"
"Daughter."
Before I could go into any more detail, a door hissed open behind us. We all turned around and raised our weapons. Then we lowered them as a human woman staggered inside. "Who… who are you? What are you doing here?"
She was clearly disoriented, as were the three other miners—one human, one turian, one asari—who followed her. "I'm Commander Shepard. Are you all right?"
"I think so." The woman rubbed her eyes. "I feel like… I feel strange, but… all right."
Well she was certainly more talkative than any of the other people we'd encountered on this station. And she wasn't telling me to turn back because I didn't belong here. Which meant I could finally pester her with any and all questions that came to mind. While keeping my hand close to my weapons, just in case. "Do you recognize this man?" I asked, pointing to the real Garneau.
They stared at him before exchanging confused looks. "I've never seen him before in my life," the asari admitted.
Which was funny considering that she looked like one of the asari who'd shook hands with Garneau in the security footage. "He came here about a week ago. Someone here killed him."
"Someone here?" the asari repeated in a stunned voice. "How is that possible? I'm so sorry…"
"Can you tell us anything about what happened to you?" I asked.
"Anything at all," Garrus added. "It could be a memory. Something you saw or heard or felt."
"Not really," the human woman shrugged. She rubbed her eyes again as if trying to wake up. "I, uh, remember… it just seemed… I remember feeling cold. Cold and dark."
"If dark was a feeling," the other human rasped, "that's exactly what I felt."
"There was an artifact here," I tried. "A round sphere about this big. Do you know where it came from?"
"Yeah," the man nodded. "It came out of the mine. We were just about to decommission this section when we discovered it. Head office was supposed to send someone. That's about all I can…"
He trailed off, as if that was all he could remember. But that, along with some of the datapads I'd read earlier, was enough for me to start drawing some conclusions. The puzzle of Mahavid was almost complete. "Just two more questions," I said. "Were you aware that there were Reapers in the area?"
They all stared at me blankly. "What's a Reaper?" the man asked.
"Right. Last question: what year do you think this is?"
"2176, of course," the asari shrugged.
And that was all I needed to figure out what happened here. "This might be a bit of a shock," I told them gently, "but 2176 was ten years ago."
"What?"
"It's going to take time to explain everything, more time than I have. I'll send someone to help bring you up to speed. The important thing is, you're safe and you're going to be okay." Granted, I had no way to guarantee that, but it was the best I could do. I wasn't lying when I said I couldn't stick around. "Cortez, what's your situation? Can you bring the shuttle in?"
"Affirmative. Strangest thing: couple of minutes ago, the Reaper forces broke off and left."
"They couldn't get what they came for," I replied. "We've done all we can here. Time to pick us up."
"Yes, sir. Sending NavPoint for extraction now"
I turned to EDI as we headed out. "EDI, arrange for these people to be evacuated into temporary quarantine."
"Yes, Commander."
Liara shook her head. "No memory of the last ten years… they'll have a lot of catching up to do."
The squad didn't have any formal or regular protocol for debriefing. We didn't usually talk things out after the mission was over. But even by our standards, this was an unusual mission. So it wasn't surprising that we began to chat once we returned to the shuttle.
Miranda started things off. "So Leviathan has the power to take down a Reaper… and the ability to indoctrinate."
"Do you think it actually is a Reaper?" Garrus asked.
"If so, its mental restraints are unique," EDI said. "Odd, even. My AI shackled served similar purposes, but why add sensations of cold or darkness? Previous reports of Reaper indoctrination have not mentioned these observations."
"Indoctrinated subjects also acted normally," Kaidan added, "right up until they turned against their comrades to carry out the Reapers' will. The miners and colonists down there were dominated so completely they couldn't maintain any semblance of normal behaviour."
"I saw many strange things in our war against the Reapers," Javik mused. "An entire settlement of Densorin were once studying things far beyond their knowledge. Celestial mechanics, morphological simulations of galactic language… things even we didn't understand. At the time, I thought they were crazy. But now, after what occurred on that asteroid, I wonder."
"Whatever Leviathan is, I want to know what it's up to," I said. "How long has it been out here? What does it want? If it's a Reaper; why is it turning against its own people? Maybe that datapad you recovered could help. EDI, did we get anything from Garneau's notes?"
"Yes. They suggest that the artifact is the key. A conduit through which Leviathan can control its subjects. Garneau appears to have created a method to block the artifact's mind-affecting properties."
"And by artifact, you mean the glowing sphere that the fake Garneau blew up?" Kaidan asked for clarification. When EDI nodded, he sighed. "Well, that explains the reaction of those poor miners."
"I'm just glad Garneau found a way to stop those artifacts," I replied. "We need to go back and search Bryson's lab again. So far, Leviathan seems to be controlling organic subjects."
"So you want me to go," EDI deduced.
"Right. I'll go as well."
"Shepard!" Miranda protested.
"I've already been there once," I reminded her. "No sense in risking exposing anyone else. The first thing we'll do is enact Garneau's safeguards. Then we can do some digging. I want to know just what the hell these artifacts really are and what they can do."
"Whatever they are, they're too dangerous to leave lying around unattended," Garrus frowned.
"Which is why we're heading back," I declared. "We've got one sitting in Bryson's lab. Right in the middle of the Citadel."
The next minute or so was spent in silence before I noticed Liara doing some work on her omni-tool. "What're you up to?"
"Reviewing my files," she said. "My sources told me the production numbers were wrong at Mahavid's mining facility. I assumed they were just smuggling red sand. I never took the time to look closer."
"You never had reason to before," I told her. "It's not your fault."
She shook her head, unwilling to accept that. "Too much intel, too many places for secrets to hide. I'm going to have to start sleeping less."
"Or you could give me more access to your database and contacts," Miranda offered. "Distribute the workload."
Liara nodded gratefully.
"No one else noticed anything was unusual," Garrus chimed in. "Think about it: Leviathan had its own private army for ten years, willing to carry out any orders it gave. You've got to wonder how much longer that would've lasted if we hadn't come along."
"All those people, indoctrinated, losing ten years of your life," Tali whispered. "I can't even imagine what that's many other people out there are trapped like that? We need to find Leviathan."
"We will, Tali," Kaidan reassured her. "And in the meantime, we helped those people wake up. Now they can get their lives back."
"So let me get this straight," Cortez said from the cockpit, "the mining colony was completely brainwashed by Leviathan for an entire decade after they dug up an artifact, the Reapers came to find Leviathan, and they retreated the moment the artifact was destroyed?"
"Pretty much."
He shuddered. "I don't like it. That's all I'm saying."
"You and me both, Esteban," James said soberly. "Trust me: that asteroid facility was messed up. Ten years of your life, just… gone. You're working out there, sending letters to your family back home… then you wake up. Your hair's gone, your kid's a stranger in college and your six-pack's turned into a keg. Just messed up."
No one else had anything else to say. We just sat there the whole way back, silently contemplating the horrors we'd seen.
(1): A human idiom describing a feeling of anxiety, nervousness or apprehension.
(2): No doubt Shepard was using humour as a means to deflect his unease over this… disturbing situation.
(3): I was more than a little alarmed at the disquieting circumstances on Mahavid. Shepard noticed that and offered a distraction, a kind gesture given his proven track record with hacking and data analysis.
(4): A human idiom describing fright, anxiety, nervousness or apprehension.
(5): Insect-like synthetic-organic creatures mutated by Reaper technology. Given the rachni origin of the Ravager and their tendency to swarm hostile forces and explode, they are likely derived from rachni workers.
(6): Shepard was concerned about any concussions or internal trauma that Team Three and I may have suffered. Given the combat conditions the squad was in, the best he could do was minimize the risk of further injury for as many people as possible. After the mission was over, he supported Dr. Chakwas when she insisted on giving us a full physical.